USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol II > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
Now let us see what the early agriculture of the white men was like. We immediately find that corn was the crop of crops for the pioneers, just as it was among the Indians. Moreover the whites used the same methods as did the red men in cultivation. Before gristmills were erected each farmer kept one or two mortars for pounding corn. These were made in stumps of hardwood trees by cutting stumps off square and hollowing them out by burning them, or with an ax or an adze, the pounder being hung on a spring pole. Like the red man, the white pioneer made his coarse meal into mush or unleavened corn bread. The corn was also dried, charred and stored in much the same way. Succotash was a favored pioneer dish, although our forefathers probably lost little time in substituting pork for dog meat and elimi- nated the squash. All the other food products used by the Indians were grown and eaten by the white man. We still use the scarecrow and the husking peg. Last but not least it might be mentioned that we copied the Indian cure for cutworms. Softly the farmer's wife would steal forth from her cabin in the dead of night to glide around the garden three times, in the nude, trailing her clothes over the earth. It is believed, however, that she departed somewhat from the savage custom of appearing only when the moon was full. When we seriously consider all the gifts of the red man to us, including his home and his land, the liquor which constituted our most influential contribution to him seems inadequate compensation.
The first farm houses were box-like log cabins, which became the centers of clearings in the heart of the vast forest. Sometimes there was one room, sometimes there were two. Sleeping quarters were fur- nished in the loft overhead under a roof of fine shingles, bark, or split basswood. Unless the family finances were favorable, which was seldom, both at the door and the window there were only blankets. Opposite the door was a fireplace leading to a chimney of sticks and clay. Nearby the pioneer planted his crops of wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, etc. For years oxen were used almost exclusively to drag the harrow and for other heavy work. No heed was given to breeding. A cow was a cow, no attention at all being given to varieties. The emphasis was on meat rather than milk; a large animal with only milk enough to supply the needs of the family being preferred to an
655
AGRICULTURE
abundant milk producer possessing little meat. Both cows and pigs roamed at will along the roads and in the woods, uncared for, exist- ing on insufficient pasturage, and presenting a scrawny, sad appear- ance. Few sheep were raised, at first, because of the great numbers of wolves and dogs. Those that did exist were so poor that they more nearly resembled goats. Wheat was harvested by sickles and the threshing was done by trampling with oxen or with a flail. Ten bushels to an acre was considered a good yield. Apples and pears
(Courtesy of the Rutland Chamber of Commerce) TYPICAL VERMONT SCENE NEAR RUTLAND
were grown in abundance and cider was made in quantities to last the entire year. All mushrooms were considered poisonous, while no one had heard of alfalfa. Although ashes were used somewhat for fer- tilizer, little attention was given to enriching the land. Manure was more often considered a necessary evil than an advantage. Each year as the soil became exhausted, crops decreased until finally the farm was abandoned and the occupant moved ever westward, it being cheaper to buy more land than to bother with fertilizer.
656
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
One of the most common characteristics of the early agricultural community was the distillery. There were probably more distilleries than there were gristmills. This condition was, in considerable meas- ure, due to the lack of good transportation facilities, whisky and brandy being more easily carried to market than grain and fruit. The best grain was used for manufacture into whisky, whereas flour and feed was made from the poorer grades. Apples were chiefly used for cider, which was consumed from morning to bedtime. Everybody had beer and ale, while nearly all had whisky. There were certain social aspects to early drinking, the upper class using port, madeira, claret and burgundies; commoners making their own fruit brandies, juices and wines; while the lower stratum tanked up on rum and apple- jack. Cider in a way took the place of tea and coffee, which were seldom used because of their prohibitive cost. The price of a pound of tea was from fifty cents to a dollar and a half, while a pound of coffee brought from twenty to forty cents. At a time when butter was worth but a shilling a pound and eggs but six cents a dozen, we can readily understand why the average farmer drank cider instead of tea and coffee.
A century ago much more meat was eaten than at present. Almost unbelievable are the stories of the large number of pigs and other ani- mals consumed by individual families each year. Salt pork was the food of foods for Americans of that era. One of the leading trag- edies of the times in the eyes of the rural housewife was to reach the bottom of her pork barrel. Very little sweetening was used for food. Plain granulated sugar was unknown, while loaf sugar was very expensive, and was generally used for company only. At that time maple sugar was an important substitute, very little sap being then converted into syrup. Honey was also used on a large scale. The housewife, too, had access to cheap grades of brown sugar and to molasses from the West Indies.
At first, heavy animal oils were used in lamps, kerosene not com- ing into use until about 1850. Friction matches were introduced about 1830. The fireplace held sway for cooking, although with steady improvements, until 1850, when the kitchen stove first came into use. Then we find simple fire-boxes about eighteen inches long and eight inches wide and deep. On top there were two lids. Later an oven was added. Round stoves for heating were not introduced until the 1860's and 1870's.
657
AGRICULTURE
Large families were a necessity of the times, children being urgently needed for the never-ending labor around the farm. Couples not pos- sessing children of their own were more or less forced to make arrange- ments to use the progeny of their more prolific neighbors. In those days a widow with several children was eagerly sought after by eligible males. Naturally money wages were very low, amounting to from twenty-five to fifty cents per day, with liquor in addition at times of heavy labor. As late as the 1850s, when mowers asked seventy-five cents or a dollar per day to cut one and a half acres, farmers complained bitterly of high wages.
One of the earliest crops raised in the Champlain Valley was wheat, in many communities being contemporary with corn. A bushel of wheat was one early standard of value, being used, among other things, for taxes and the minister's salary. This grain formed an early item of export and was also used for the distilling of liquor. White flour was regarded as a luxury. The average production was approximately twenty-four bushels per acre while forty bushels was considered a good crop. Wheat sold at times for as high as four dollars per bushel. The virgin soil generally produced bumper crops for a few years but soon became exhausted, because no attempt was made to retain or replenish fertility. When this happened the settler was tempted to pull up stakes and migrate to a newer frontier. In any case, the arrival of the wheat weevil in the 1820s did not tend to hold him back. This pest hit Vermont in 1827, and that year really marked the end of that State's great wheat-growing era. Our New York counties underwent the same transition at practically the same time. In addition to the loss of fertility of the soil and the presence of the weevil, the wheat era was unfavorably influenced by the intro- duction of Merino sheep and the laying of a tariff on wool. The set- tlers, that did not move, as a rule turned from wheat to tending flocks
Other grain crops following closely on the heels of corn and wheat were those of oats, barley, rye and buckwheat. Rye and wheat or rye and oats were frequently sowed together. The chief use of rye was for manufacture into liquor, while its straw was in great demand for winter fodder. There were enormous quantities of this grain raised in New York State, more than one-half of the entire output of the nation being produced here in 1840. Since then, however, there has been a steady decline. Buckwheat was valued both for its
C & G-42
658
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
food properties and for bee-keeping. Barley was chiefly used for brewing beer.
Timothy was introduced into this country early in the eighteenth century, but there was not much demand for any kind of hay until early in the nineteenth. With the arrival of the stagecoach and the canal eras, however, the demand for hay grew steadily. The horses drawing the barges from Whitehall southward had to be fed, while there was a gradually increasing number of these animals at inns and taverns. Livery stables sprang up here and there. By 1840, New York State led all others in the production of hay, and by 1850 tim- othy and clover hay constitued one of New York's most profitable crops. Alfalfa is a fairly recent innovation, for it did not penetrate into this section until the 1890s.
One surprising feature of the history of our agriculture was the slow use of the potato. Many reasons are, or have been, given for this phenomenon, but none satisfactorily explain the antipathy or dis- interestedness of our ancestors. In any case, the potato did not become very important in New York until 1840; then rather sud- denly that State was producing thirty million bushels or one-half the crop of the entire nation. From then until now New York has ranked either first or second in the production of potatoes. It is also one of Vermont's leading crops. Both sides of the Champlain Valley were hit by the potato blight which swept our country in the 1840s, prob- ably coming from Ireland. Today the potato is solidly established as an integral part of the American diet, and the Green Mountain variety is supreme in this area. It is recorded that Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, once attended a ball with a wreath of potato blossoms in her hair. Whenever an exhibition of the agricultural products of the Champlain Valley is to be held it would not be exactly out of place for a modern queen of the farmlands to imitate that royal example. The bean had its origin as a major farm product in New York State. At one time this State led all others, but in later years has been relegated to second or third place.
From time to time improvements have been made of a technical nature. At first hay was cut with a scythe, raked by hand and loaded with a fork, while grain was cut with a grain cradle and was raked and bound by hand. The first harrow was the so-called "brush-drag," which consisted principally of the top of a bushy tree. Later this
659
AGRICULTURE
was replaced by the wooden drag which was shaped like a capital A. At first there were no cultivators. Corn was planted on a ridge formed by a one-horse plow, and it was cultivated by the same imple- ment. The corn cultivator did not come into use until about 1840, while the regular wheel cultivator did not appear until much later. The first threshing machines, which were run by horse power, came into use about 1825; reapers were few and far between until the 1840s; and there was not much confidence in seeders until the 1850s. Jethro Wood, famed for his introduction of cast-iron plows, was born at White Creek, Washington County. He migrated toward the west- ern part of the State, where he made his first plow in 1819. He was not the original inventor but was the first successful introducer. As a rule farmers were prejudiced against the innovation, and Wood had to give plows to farmers in order to have them used.
In some ways the machine age was a good thing for the farmer. It provided faster and more satisfactory methods of planting, caring for and harvesting crops; better facilities for getting his goods to market; more time for leisure and mental stimulation; a great variety of household improvements; and a vast range of other advantages. On the other hand it has not always been an unmixed blessing. First of all it often forced him to let his hired men go because the city attracted his help with comparatively high wages and a greater amount of excitement. In the second place the payments for. and the replace- ments of, recent farm machinery and equipment made a greater income essential. Although machinery also created greater income in general, increasing investments caused farming to become more and more of a gamble because, when crops failed, payments on equipment had to be made just the same.
Scientific horticulture is of rather recent origin, dating from about 1880. Most early trees were seedlings with budding and grafting seldom practiced. Orchards were almost never cultivated, seldom pruned, and sprays were not known until nearly the end of the last century. Of all the fruits of the Champlain Valley the apple is king, although for an extensive period from 1825 to 1870 the pear com- peted closely for popular favor. Plums and certain varieties of grapes were also grown successfully fairly early. There were also vari- ous wild berries, including strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blue- berries, cranberries, and wild cherries that were harvested and used in
660
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
considerable quantities. One favorite use of wild cherries was to flavor rum, while frost grapes were used in making pickles. The climate of the Champlain Valley is not adapted to the growth of the peach and quince.
Until about 1825 most animals were raised primarily for meat, although even that early butter and cheese were being manufactured for the Montreal, Boston and Troy markets. North, east, and south, large sleds loaded with these products and pork, mutton and beef were hauled to the centers of population each winter. Very little attention was given to breeding at that time and the steers raised for beef were of no particular variety. The cattle of the Champlain Valley were classed under the name of "lake cattle," and were consid- ered to be of particularly fine quality, doubtless because of the good grasslands in the vicinity of Lake Champlain. Not only from the New York counties on the west shore, but even from St. Lawrence County farther west did beef cattle drift eastward into Vermont and there, uniting with other and larger herds, ultimately continue on toward Boston. In the winter they were butchered in Vermont and delivered on sleds, as we have already noted, while during the remain- der of the year they were driven on the hoof to the Atlantic seaboard. Many are the accounts existing today describing huge herds which moved generally in a southeastwardly direction. It has been estimated that as early as 1808 from 12,000 to 15,000 cattle on the hoof were thus taken from Vermont to the Boston market alone. Other large herds were driven slowly southward to the Troy, Albany and New York markets. More than one traveler stopped overnight at a Ver- mont inn that was literally encircled with such cattle, the herdsmen electing to sleep there also, while their animals rested outside pending the resumption of their death march on the following day.
As a rule the best animals were delivered on the hoof. The others were sorted out and butchered at packing houses. The so-called bar- rel beef did not require choice stock and also sold for a lower price, so this procedure was a reasonable one. The practice of packing beef at that time was more extensive than is generally realized. One firm in Addison County, headed by John Simonds, in the period from 1835 to 1860 slaughtered over 100,000 cattle at a cost of $2,000,000. In the process Simonds acquired a personal fortune of $300,000. As time went on, however, and transportation facilities
661
AGRICULTURE
improved, the Champlain Valley received more and more competi- tion, particularly from western New York and from Ohio. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 paved the way, and as the western beef trade gained in momentum the market for Champlain beef became more and more precarious. Prices at one time were incredibly low, the best grades of fat steers and oxen selling for $3 per hundredweight; the fat cows and heifers for $2 per hundredweight; while the thin, poorly-fatted animals were worth only $1 per hundredweight. Fat sheep were sold in Addison County in 1846 at seventy-five cents per head. As a rule the farmers were reasonably satisfied with these prices. The most popular variety of beef cattle seems to have been the Short- horn, but there were many Herefords and also some Aberdeen-Angus, Devons, and Galloways.
As we have noted, sheep led a hazardous existence on the frontier. Wolves and dogs eagerly sought their companionship. In spite of that fact, however, there were many factors existing that were favor- able to sheep farming and it became a major agricultural occupation. Many farmers became sheep raisers when the production of wheat became unprofitable due to the weevil and the exhaustion of the soil. Other farmers were more or less forced to substitute sheep raising for beef and grain because of western and foreign competition in those fields. In addition, the textile industry was rapidly expanding in south- ern New England, and this promised a favored market for wool. Finally in the 1820s the national government placed a tariff on for- eign wool which seriously handicapped foreign growers who would normally compete with ours. The sheep were of no certain breed until the introduction of the Merino (which reached Addison County in 1816). In both New York and Vermont this variety became supreme, and was an important factor in making the 1830s the Golden Age of sheep raising. One Vermont township, although it is a few miles outside of the area covered by this research, possessed a total of 697 sheep in 1803; 3,212 in 1826, and 113 in 1908-statistics that vividly indicate the rise and fall of the sheep industry. By giving atten- tion to breeding, the Mer nos were brought to a perfection never attained in their Spanish home, and the Vermont variety gained a world-wide reputation. "Shearing-time was the great festival of the year. The shearers, many of whom were often the flock-owners, well-to-do neigh- bors, were treated more as guests than as laborers, and the best the
662
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
house afforded was set before them. The great barn's empty bays and scaffolds resounded with the busy click of incessant shears, the jokes, songs, and laughter of the merry shearers, the bleating of the ewes and lambs, and the twitter of disturbed swallows, while the sun- light, shot through crack and knot-hole, swung slowly around the dusty interior in sheets and bars of gold that dialed the hours from morning till evening."
Although sheep farming continued to dominate the rural areas of Vermont until after the Civil War, a gradual decline started as early as 1840. In that year, Addison County had, according to Governor Jenison, "a greater number of sheep and produced more wool than any other county in the United States. Taking eleven towns (one- half of the number in the county) most favorable to the keeping of sheep, they will be found to have possessed more than one sheep to each acre of improved and unimproved land, or more than six hundred and forty to the square mile." Almost every small farmer had 100 or more, while some of the larger sheep men had flocks of 2,000. In 1839 and 1840, however, there occurred a fall in the price of wool, the decline continuing as railroads were extended farther and farther into the west to other sheep lands. During those same years the amount of wool produced by Vermont animals declined because of the widespread practice of crossing the Merino breed with the light, fine-wool Saxony. Finally, wool from the free grazing lands in Mon- tana and Wyoming largely crowded out that produced in Vermont. During the twenty years following the Civil War sheep raising gradu- ally relinquished its primacy in agriculture to the dairy industry. Today the number of sheep raised in Vermont is as nothing compared with the 1830s, declining from 118,551 in 1910 to 62,756 in 1920, and to 29,394 in 1935. At the same time wool shorn has faded away from 625,722 pounds in 1909, to 417,955 pounds in 1919, and to 188,362 pounds in 1934. Sheep raising has followed wheat growing and beef production. into the land of the setting sun, so far as the Champlain Valley is concerned. Addison County should treasure forever the memory of those majestic Merino rams that once ruled its rolling hills. In my boyhood I always had a healthy respect for them, and always beat a strategic retreat when one or more of them showed signs of asserting their authority in my direction.
*Robinson, Rowland E .: "Vermont."
663
AGRICULTURE
Before we approach too recent times, let us devote some attention to that lowly animal called the hog. Swine adapted themselves to their new environment better than any other animals. They required little attention, comparatively, being allowed to roam at will in the wilderness as well as in the roadway. Pork became a leading article of diet and every farmer had some by 1800, although the hogs must have been, as a rule, like Cassius, who was famed for his lean and hungry look. About the middle of the nineteenth century, the raising of swine received a decided impetus due to an abundance of skimmed milk incidental to the manufacture of dairy products. It has been estimated that in New York State in 1860 there was one hog to every four cows. Today most of the pork purchased at stores is not native, but comes from the west, as in the case of beef. The Duroc breed originated in Saratoga County.
Perhaps the most serious drawback to Indian agriculture was the lack of a beast of burden, unless we classify the squaw in that cate- gory. Without such an animal agriculture must of necessity remain exceedingly primitive. The white pioneer could not advance far until he possessed such beast. For some time the ox served this purpose after a fashion, but was inadequate. In the first half of the nineteenth century he was replaced by the horse. This animal rapidly became man's best friend, there being some truth in the assertion that the horse needed and received better attention than did the farmer's fam- ily. The housewife and children were geared to high efficiency on a low subsistence level and responded nobly, whereas no horse, regard- less of breed, ever functioned well without proper care. Many barns were superior to the houses. The average farmer might conceivably prefer a hog to a horse because it requires much less care, a charac- teristic that might offset its lack of intelligence; he might prefer a sheep on the assumption that its supposedly feminine traits might arouse his protective instinct; he might also lavish the greater part of his affection on that docile, obedient servant-the cow; but the pride of the average farmer seems to be centered on his horse, perhaps because that animal does his most difficult work for him. Whereas two men with a pair of oxen could plow but one-half an acre from morning until dusk, one man with two horses could plow two acres in one day. Then again, there were few rural thrills that compared with those connected with the various kinds of horse races or the inciden- tal gambling or wagering that took place.
664
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
The sire of American trotters was famous "Messenger," who was brought from England to Philadelphia in 1788. He was of the type known as Thoroughbred, which was as definite a breed as Percheron or any other. Some of his progeny were eventually introduced into the Champlain Valley. They were used primarily for saddle, car- riage and races, being too tall, lithe, light and nervous for general farm purposes. The second landmark in horse breeding resulted from the founding of the celebrated Morgan family, which was sired by that famous horse, "Justin Morgan." He derived his name from the man that owned him. After his advent in 1793, the breeding of Morgan horses became an important industry in Vermont. He was not personally a fast horse, but his offspring were splendid roadsters and did exceptionally well on the trotting track. They are also noted today for their stamina and their will to work. Many people consider them the best variety for general service. One of the most famous horses ever to live in western Vermont was the great "Black Hawk." He and his descendants, particularly the "Ethan Allen" branch, liter- ally ruled the realm of trotters. In 1866 alone, there were nine repre- sentatives of this one group that were capable of bettering 2.193/4, which was the mark to shoot at in that era. The third landmark was the introduction of "Hamiltonian" in 1849. He had 1,333 off- spring, some forty of whom became great performers on race tracks and great sires of speed. Race and trotting courses were numer- ous, the most important of which was, and is, located at Saratoga Springs, but its history belongs more to our chapter on resorts than to agriculture. Not until about the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury was there any serious movement to breed heavy horses for draft work. Then Percherons and Clydesdales were imported in large num- bers to replace or improve the mongrel types. Today there are many farms in the Champlain Valley where the use of many mechanical devices is not practical because of steep sidehills and boulders, and where horses are essential. If it were not for Washington County's 12,338 sheep, there would be considerably more horses than sheep in our eleven counties. As it is, there are 40,544 horses to 41,701 sheep. Certainly the horse is far from being extinct in the Champlain Valley.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.